Wretched,
ephemeral race, children of chance and tribulation, why do you force me
to tell you the very thing which it would be most profitable for you
not to hear? The very best thing is utterly beyond your reach: not to
have been born, not to be, to be nothing. However, the second best
thing for you is: to die soon.

The first concerns the existence of Presidential kill lists: People 'to
be be taken off', without due process, without a court's decision, quite possibly with a drone, by being on the
US President's kill list. Also, Guantanamo is still open; rendition is
still practised; and indefinite detention, without trial, still
allowed. 'Yes, we can!'.

The second continues the story. And here are links to some earlier
Nederlogs of this year, in case you missed them:

Incidentally: The last link is in Dutch, and shows that already in 2005 I
said this 'battle' is based on deception
of the public:

Far fewer, far less measures directed against the public - that is: all of society, except its rruling Úlite, military, (secret) police, and courts - at large kept 'The Free West' existing in the times
of Cold War, when great quantities of heavily armed well trained Soviet troops, also a country with huge
amounts of atomic weapons, stood on the borders of Western Germany: No
forced identity papers; no extensive telephone tapping; no
'anti-teroristt' measures; no strip searches; no rendition; no kill
lists; no illegal death sentences; no indefinite - secret -
detentions without public trial or court case: Relatively civilized
times, without Big Brother spying on everyone, and without a police
state's foundation.

And since these foundations have been laid, both by Bush and by Obama,
and since the point is elementary: There is no enemy as there was in
the times of Brehznev and Mao, and not by a large streak, my conclusion
must be that these foundations have been laid on purpose.

And yes: That really ought to frighten rational people of good will.

2.
'Capitalism for profits, socialism for losses'

This is an item by the BBC, interviewing Nassim Taleb(<-
Wikipedia link), whose saying is the title of this
section:

The bankmanagers and FED have brought it about the that the
bankmanagers still get
enormous incomes, now in the fourth year of economic crisis, caused by their actions, in the tens of millions of dollars yearly; and that
the banks still keep whatever profits they are making, these days usually from money given to
them from tax-money, and without interest, while the rest of society must
pick up their losses:

Taleb seems an interesting and smart man, with a lot of relevant
knowledge. Here is his sworn testimony to the US Congress, in two
parts. Note this is interesting, clear, on oath, to the point, but alas
in a somewhat vague video-rendering, for it is a bit hazy - but the
spoken text is good and clear:

1.
Ten reasons why ME/CFS is a real disease by a professor of medicine of
Harvard.
2. Long essay by a professor emeritus of medical chemistry about
maltreatment of ME.
3. Explanation of what's happening around ME by an investigative
journalist.
4. Report to Canadian Government on ME, by many medical experts.
5. Advice to psychiatrist by a psychiatrist who understa, but nds ME is
an organic disease
6. English mathematical genius on one's responsibilities in the matter
of one's beliefs:

7. A space-
and computer-scientist takes a look at psychology.
8. Malcolm Hooper puts things together status 2010.
9. I tell my story of surviving (so far) in Amsterdam/ with ME.
10. The directory on my site about ME.